The city of Paris will host the First International Conference on “Gender Equality, a priority for global development” from 31^st January to 1^st February 2013

Organised at the initiative of Bertrand Delanoë, Honorary Founding President of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and Anne Hidalgo, President of the UCLG Standing Committee on Gender Equality, in partnership with UN-Women and the key international networks of elected women, CEMR and Metropolis, this conference will aim to promote real equality in the executive bodies. It will see the construction of the Paris Agenda, a pragmatic roadmap defining the next steps necessary to promote the participation of women in decision making in all spheres of life: political, economic, social and cultural. As such, the Paris Agenda will seek to influence the redefinition post 2015 of the Millennium Goals, the 3^rd of which is the promotion of equality between the sexes and the empowerment of women.

Highlights of the programme:

• Signature of the Partnership Agreement between UCLG and UN-Women:

Anne Hidalgo and Lakshmi Puri, Under Secretary General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director of UN-Women will sign a Memorandum of Understanding on this occasion with representation from UCLG and UN-Women.

• The work of the Conference will be organized into four round table discussions:

Opening Round Table: Participation of women in decision-making at all level
In all aspects of public and economic life, women in all corners of the world continue to be under-represented in decision-making bodies. Women from the spheres of civil society and local elected representatives will exchange on their experiences, successes and failures

Round Table 1: Participation of women in local decision-making  
This session will allow participants to discuss the progress made in relation to participation of women in local decision-making bodies in various parts of the world. It will notably draw on European experiences of the Charter for Equality of Women and Men in Local Life. 

Round Table 2: The role of women in innovative financing and access to essential services
Throughout the world, women are often the essential source of innovative financing at local level (microcredit, gender budgeting, etc.), and of the implementation of effective access to basic services in cities. This session will outline the perspectives on the different forms that women’s creativity can take in these fields.  

Round Table: Safer cities for women
Urban violence is one of the most wide-spread problems at global level and this question requires urgent attention. This session will examine what actions can be taken to implement policies that create community links, social cohesion and integration in cities.

• Final Declaration during the Closing session

The conclusions of the four round tables programmed will fuel the Paris Agenda that will then be presented on the 1^st of February during the closing session that will feature inputs from, most notably, Federico Mayor Zaragoza, Former Director of UNESCO, President of the Peace Culture Foundation (Spain), Elisabeth Guigou, President of the Committee of Foreign Affairs of the National Assembly, MP, Former Minister (France), Hauwa Ibrahim, Honorary Citizen of the City of Paris, Human Rights Advocate (Nigeria). 

Follow the event on the UCLG Twitter account @uclg_women

For more information on the UCLG Standing Committee for Gender Equality, please consult the UCLG-Women Blog: http://women.uclg.org/